Amateur ace Sam bows out in style on Noble Yeats
WHAT a way to go out. Sam Waley-Cohen announced on Thursday that he would have his last-ever ride in yesterday’s Randox Health Grand National and he went out with an emotionally-charged Aintree victory on 50/1 shot Noble Yeats six days before his 40th birthday.
It is the sort of final sporting hurrah any professional sportsman would dream about but Waley-Cohen pulled it off as an amateur rider, the first to win the £1million race since Marcus Armytage landed the 1990 Grand National on Mr Frisk.
Tomorrow morning he will be dealing with the daily business of running his company Portman Dentalcare.
But in the years to come he will be able to reflect on a career packed with the sort of success to make most in the paid ranks envious.
That includes two wins in the King George VI Chase, as well as the 2011 Cheltenham Gold Cup on Long Run, who like Noble Yeats is owned by Waley-Cohen’s father Robert.
Sam’s two and a quarter length win from 15/2 favourite Any Second Now was a first for a seven-year-old since Bogskar won in 1940 and was also another massive feather in the cap of the gelding’s young trainer Emmet Mullins, who was having his first runner in the race and only third at Aintree.
But yesterday’s drama played out in front of a capacity 70,000 crowd in the 174th running of the race was all about the rider, who was having his 10th ride in the race and who finished second on Oscar Time in 2011.
Inspiring Sam throughout his career has been the memory of his late brother Thomas, who died of cancer. His initials are stitched into Sam’s saddle.
Sam said: ‘When you use someone you love and you lose them when you are young you make the most of life and try to approach things with an open heart and try to put a lot of energy into every day because you don’t know if it will be your last.
‘It has definitely made me want to make the most of my opportunities and thanks to dad I have had incredible opportunities.’
Waley-Cohen definitely did that yesterday, working his way into contention gradually after Noble Yeats did not get the start he wanted and found the early tempo of the race too hot. But he gradually started picking off rivals plotting a brave route down the inside.
As they crossed the Melling Road with half a mile to go, Noble Yeats was sat on the tail of three fellow Irish pacesetters – Longhouse Poet (6th), Freewheelin Dylan (7th) and Coko Beach (8th) – going ominously well.
By the last fence, eventual third Delta Work had stayed on to challenge only to run out of fuel leaving the final dash to the finish and duel between Noble Yeats and last year’s third Any Second Now.
It was in the balance until the Elbow 150 yards from the line when Noble Yeats forged clear.
Yesterday was only the third time that Waley-Cohen had sat on Noble Yeats. The second was when the gelding was unplaced at last month’s Cheltenham Festival.
Waley-Cohen said: ‘I pulled him out and asked him, he gave me way more than I expected. I know he’s got plenty of toe, so as soon as he picked up, I thought, “he’s gone – he’s got this”.’
One of the people best placed to appreciate how Sam and his father felt was the man they had beaten – Ted Walsh, trainer of Any Second Now.
He won the race in 2000 with Papillon, ridden by son Ruby. Walsh felt Any Second Now, an eight-length third last year, had just failed to see out the trip quite as well as the winner this time around, beaten two and a quarter lengths. ‘To get that close it’s a sickener, but equally it’s a great out for the WaleyCohen family, and seeing the father going down the track to meet his son in tears,’ said Walsh. ‘Mark (Walsh, jockey) said he missed the break, but that he jumped and travelled well. I thought jumping the last he might get there, but the other horse has outstayed us from the elbow. I’ve seen a lot happen from the elbow, including Crisp getting caught by Red Rum.
‘Unfortunately for us, the post is another 100 yards away, and that’s where you get paid.’
Delta Work, who beat dual National winner Tiger Roll in his Cheltenham Festival swansong last month, was a 20-length third for Gordon Elliott on his first try at the Aintree fences.
The chance of last year’s hero Rachael Blackmore ended at the ninth fence when her mount Minella Times was hampered and brought down. Blackmore said: ‘He just jumped into the horse in front of him at Valentine’s.’
THERE was one equine fatality in the race. Discorama sustained an untreatable pelvic injury on the flat running to the 13th fence.